Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s requirement for residents to place their bins for collection next to the complainant’s home. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council requires people to place their bins, for collection, outside her home. She says this is a health hazard and has caused friction with neighbours. Mrs X wants the Council to change the policy so people have to leave their bins in the alley.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and looked at photographs of the bins. I considered the Council’s replies and comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Environmental Protection Act 1990

4. The law says the Council can specify where people should place their bins for collection.

What happened

5. Mrs X lives at the end of a row of terraced houses. She complained to the Council that residents were required to place their bins at the end of the road next to her house.
6. In response the Council said the Health and Safety Executive had done a review and found that, in terraced properties and properties with an alley, there was a need to reduce manual handling. Mrs X says a crew member had broken a leg so this may have contributed to the need for a review. The Council was also aware that parking meant the crews were sometimes unable to collect the waste due to access problems. The Council told Mrs X that, throughout the county, it requires people living in terraced homes to present their bins at designated collection points. In Mrs X’s road there are collection points at the ends of the road and at intersections with the alley. It confirmed that one of the collection points is on Council owned land next to Mrs X’s home.
7. In late July 2020 the Council told Mrs X it had introduced the policy in July 2019 and it was working well. It said it would not change the policy but would write to residents to ask them to be careful where they place their bins and to collect them as soon as possible after collection. The Council said it would periodically do checks to see if people had collected their bins and sticker any bins that had not been collected. The Council said the bins do not represent a health risk. The Council hopes to write to residents, and start the periodic checks, in the next few weeks.
8. Mrs X is dissatisfied with the reply. She wants the Council to change the policy and tell people to place their bins in the alley. She says people do not collect their bins promptly and she feels forced to move them. She says this puts her at risk of getting Covid-19. She says her wall has been marked and the system is not working well for her.

Assessment

9. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The law says councils can decide where residents should place their bins for collection. The Council has decided people should use collection points so it can implement the health and safety recommendations and because of the access problems. The Council will not change the policy because the system is working well, but it will write to people to ask them to manage their bins responsibly. It will also remind people to collect their bins and it will do checks.
10. I appreciate Mrs X does not like the arrangement but there is no suggestion of fault so I cannot intervene. It is not the role of the Ombudsman to tell councils what bin collection policies to have. If Mrs X thinks the collection policy should be changed, she would need to lobby her councillors and ask the Council to change the policy. It would be for the Council, not the Ombudsman, to decide whether to change the policy.
11. Mrs X’s main issue is the impact of the policy. For example, the placement of the bins and their return to each property. However, the Council will be taking steps to address this. Mrs X is correct to say she has seen no evidence of these checks. This is because the final complaint reply was in late July and the Council has not had time to implement the checks.
12. Mrs X says she has to move the bins which puts her health at risk. But, she does not have to move them. And, as I have said, the Council will be taking steps to address this issue.

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Final decision

13. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman